General Writing

Spin

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PHOTO PROMPT © Na’ama Yehuda

Her daughter’s interest in dolls had already vanished, so the laundry-room playset would get as much use as a garden rake in January.

The manufacturer offered a refund, but only to the credit card on which it had been purchased. Her husband’s parents would therefore see the return. Her in-laws loved their granddaughter, but would investigate who had spurned them.

Holidays with her in-laws were already exhausting. An additional occasion for their petulance would make them wholly insufferable.

The plastic toy’s sole purpose would be as an object of discord. Better to leave it harmlessly unused in her daughter’s room.

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly flash fiction challenge.

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Word Count?

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In it’s latest “enhancement,” WordPress has removed word count lookup. Since many flash fiction challenges have word limitations, not having this feature makes this platform less desirable.

Please, PLEASE stop removing useful features in order to add more “hip” features, most of which I’ll never use.

Mundacious

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adjective | mun-da-cious |  mən-​dā-​shəs

: persistently dull <information technology is a well-paying but mundacious profession>

History and Etymology

mundane, Middle English mondeyne, from Anglo-French mundain, from Late Latin mundanus, from Latin mundus world + tenacious, Latin tenāc-, tenāx “holding fast, clinging, persistent” (from tenēre “to hold, occupy, possess” + -āc-, deverbal suffix denoting habitual or successful performance) + -IOUS

Bass Ackwards

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bass ackwards \ ‘bas-ak-wərdz \ adjective, often vulgar

: evidently disordered and illogical

\\ deploying a system before testing was complete was a bass ackwards strategy

Marathonotonus

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adjective | mar-a-tho-not-o-nus | \ ˈmer-ə-ˌthän-nä-tə-nəs\

: an experience that is both exceptionally long and boring <a marathonotonous lecture>

History and Etymology

Marathon, Greece, site of a victory of Greeks over Persians in 490 b.c., the news of which was carried to Athens by a long-distance runner + monotonous, Greek from mon- + tonos, tone

2019 Statistics

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Writing-related numbers from the past year:

  • Novels Developed — 2 (second draft completed for one, first draft completed for another)
  • Fiction Stories Finished and Submitted — 5
  • Published Stories — 2
  • Rejections — 19
  • Non-Fiction Articles Published — 2
  • Gross Income Earned from Writing-Related Jobs — $12,798.72
  • Blog Posts — 106, for an average of a little under 9 per month and slightly over 2 per week
  • Journal Entries — 355 days, 97.2% success rate

And with those numbers close out the year, wishing all my followers a prosperous 2020.

Friday Fictioneers: The Signifying Leg

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My leg has become my identity. Hobbling down the street, passersby here the distinct clatter of my prosthetic, and look down.

“Thank you for your service,” one of them says on occasion without looking up, like slaves terrified of addressing their master.

I no longer spare them. “I slipped under a commuter train, getting to work,” I reply. Nobody ever apologizes.

I may as well be invisible, save for my leg. If I could power it remotely, I’d send it on its own, and shatter the illusion of normalcy.

[Friday Fictioneers is a weekly photo prompt challenge. Join the fun!]

Looking Ahead to 2018

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Today marks the end of a long vacation, far from the frigid eastern half of the United States to which I will be shortly returning. I’m not one for resolutions on New Years Day, but I do work better when I operate under some form of plan. And now seems like a good time to reflect on the past year, and look ahead to the next.

Back in February, I decided it was time to stop blogging on a daily basis, as I realized my streak of daily posting was impressing nobody except myself. Unfortunately, in the months after that decision, I’ve struggled to come up with a consistent blogging practice in its place. Too many times, I’ve gone weeks without posting. Not what I had intended, at all.

My current thought is that I need to commit to writing three or four posts a week, each on a different recurring topic. Book reviews, which I’ve enjoyed writing over the past week, is one such topic; maybe not a book, but a movie, or online magazine. Other topics I’ve thought of have been flash fiction contests, and reblogs from bloggers I admire.

So there you have it. For each of the coming weeks in 2018, I want to write a post on each of the following topics:

  • Reviewing
  • Flash fiction
  • Reblogging

Mixed in with these posts will be the occasional multi-post short story, political commentary, and of course some awful poetry.

That should keep my busy for the coming year.